 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific I 2011 |
| Article no.: | 7 | |
| Topic: | A worldwide video revolution | |
| Author: | Tae Sung-Park | |
| Title: | CEO | |
| Organisation: | Vidiator | |
| PDF size: | 492KB |
About author
Tae Sung-Park is the CEO of Vidiator a provider of mobile video streaming platforms and services to global operators and multi-media companies; he has over 13 years of experience in the high-technology sector in a broad range of commercial roles in various international regions. Prior to Vidiator, Tae Sung-Park was a Business Consultant at Hutchinson Whampoa after having served as General Manager at Destinator Technologies, where specialized in developing new products for delivering digital content services for navigation software. Tae Sung-Park holds an MBA in Finance, Operations Management as well as a Bachelor of Science in Biological Oceanography, and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management, all from the University of Washington.
Article abstract
Video is a highly efficient way to disseminate information, to share knowledge, and in closing the digital divide between countries and between social and economic groups. In the past video distribution has focused on meeting the requirements of developed countries where profits are higher and implementation is easier. In recent years, however, video access has trickled down to a larger portion of the world’s population, due to less resource intensive, more cost effective ways to distribute video services.
Full Article
A worldwide video revolution by Tae Sung-Park, CEO, Vidiator Since the invention of the light-box by Thomas Edison, images have played a critical role in the evolution of information dissemination within our modern global consciousness. Video has enriched our understanding of nature through slow motion captures. Video has become a core element of our daily infotainment and entertainment from news to sitcoms to blockbuster movies. Video has become an essential and effective tool in communicating information of all types to people throughout the world. Yet, one of the limitations of video communication is its relative lack of penetration outside a confined room whether it is a living room, a bar, a lounge or cinema. This is now changing rapidly throughout the world, and the new wave of video innovation will have economic, social and environmental implications. In Asia Pacific, there is an urgent need to find innovative ways to allow video distribution beyond the living room if we are to see mass adoption of video viewing in the region. The graph below compares several countries worldwide in relation to their level of urbanization level – the per cent of the total population living in urban environments – and income levels in terms of GDP per capita. The countries are grouped into three types: • Type I – Highly concentrated urban populations with high income levels • Type II – rapidly growing, highly concentrated, moderate income, urban population • Type III – Low to medium concentration of urban population with relatively low income levels There is a direct correlation between the penetration of traditional video distribution using copper wire or fibre optics last mile connections to homes and buildings in the Type I countries. This shifts quickly in Type II and Type III countries where wireless technologies predominate for the last-mile connections to homes, buildings and devices. From a business perspective, several factors make copper wire and fibre optics a more costly and difficult options in Type II and Type III countries. First, there is the rising cost of raw materials for copper wires and fibre optics. Second, the significantly more complex regulatory environment in most of the Type II and Type III countries makes it difficult to negotiate and maintain consistent agreements with landowners and government entities to hang/ bury lines to homes and buildings. Next, there is the higher cost of maintaining these lines once deployed because major of Type II and Type III countries have less mature infrastructures. Finally, the sheer investment required for fixed-line connections to the majority of the population in Type II and Type III countries would be a waste of precious financial resources given the typically highly dispersed population with relatively low purchasing power. In 2009, a local operator in Switzerland announced their intention to invest over two billion Euros to upgrade their existing fibre-to-home infrastructure to 100 Mbps. Switzerland’s area is 39,997 sq. km. The average area of Type II and Type III countries is over two million sq. km. Excluding Russia and Brazil, this group’s average area is 583,076 sq. km. There are clear signs that traditional ‘cable’ video distribution methods will not work profitably in these Type II and Type III countries for many years to come. Nevertheless, this is not likely to prevent businesses and governments from finding alternative, more modern video distribution methods because the video revolution has far-reaching implications beyond profits. Video is an essential, highly efficient, tool to disseminate information, for knowledge sharing and community integration. It plays an important role in closing – or widening – the digital divide between countries and between social and economic groups. For most of the past two decades, video distribution has focused on meeting the requirements of Type I countries where profits are higher and implementation is generally easier. In the meantime, the requirements of Type II and Type III countries were largely ignored. Only the better off portion of the world population could afford to adopt video technologies and systems widely available in Type I countries. This means that the first round of video evolution, and the benefits it brought, left behind a great majority of the global population. In the last five years, video access has trickled down to a larger portion of the population. This video revolution has intensified the search for less resource intensive, more cost effective, methods to distribute interactive video services in Type II and Type III countries. While it is too early to predict the speed and depth of this shift, there are already early indications of its impact in several countries. For example, Indonesia and Philippines are far below the top ten countries in the per cent of population accessing video through more traditional distribution networks, but they are in the top ten countries using Facebook and Twitter. A large portion of the users are in their late teens and early twenties, so we are only seeing the early phase of these developments in Type II and Type III countries. Numerous social studies and market observations show a strong correlation between a person’s education level and their subsequent quality of life. Here is a snapshot in 2009 of the education differential between Type I countries and Type II & Type III countries: • On average, citizens of Type II & Type III countries receive 11 years of schooling • On average, citizens of Type I countries receive 16.3 years of schooling Since a large majority of the global population reside in Type II and Type III countries, and a significant portion of advanced knowledge is gained in the last few years of a person’s school life, this has major implications as global economies shift towards a more knowledge-based structure. Imagine a world where 3.9 billion people can easily access virtual video libraries containing everything – music, movies, TV, technical classes, advanced subject matters from distant educational institutions in their local language and more. Further, imagine interactive video classes available in remote locations, without wires and lines, by educators from one part of the world to people in another part of the world at a fraction of the cost. Clearly, the video revolution can have a lasting meaningful impact by improving the accessibility and quality of education in developing countries. What wonderful, unforeseen consequences will this have for the next generation and beyond? We are entering a new phase of the worldwide video revolution. While most of the attention is focused on new user experiences in Type I countries – 3D TV, HD, YouTube, etc. Many people are working to bring connectivity to people around the world using more innovative, efficient methods and this will have major impact on how and by whom video is consumed. With proper support and management, the video revolution can help improve the lives and future opportunities of billions of people in Asia Pacific.
